


Maybe, Maybe

by Kikuneesama



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, One Piece Hungry Days Commercial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23583943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikuneesama/pseuds/Kikuneesama
Summary: “I’m Robin”, she said. “I have seen most of you before, but I’m glad that I actually get to meet you.” Then she smiled and to Zoros dismay all of the others smiled back at her.He surely wouldn’t trust this girl so easily.
Relationships: Nico Robin/Roronoa Zoro
Comments: 7
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the Hungry Days x One Piece Shorts.  
> If you haven't seen it, go here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlH1YhJk-oQ
> 
> This is my first fanfic in years and my first on this website so please be gentle :c

**1.**

After the half-year break a new student was joining Zoro’s school. Winter was still knocking on the windows and in the morning, he had needed a hat to protect his head from the cold, which he despised. However, there was no use rebelling against it. He had an important Kendo tournament coming up and could not risk getting a cold and blocking his training. He hadn’t been sick for years and he surely wouldn’t start today. On their way to school his friend Luffy had thrown snowballs at him, which, while making him angry, also made him happy to be back at school.

His friends were the only reason he enjoyed that place. After arriving they had to realise that their friend Nami, a 17-year-old headstrong girl, who always was outspoken and a whirlwind to be around, had coloured her hair. It was now the colour of an Orange. While their friend Sanji, who always was hanging around the girls whenever he could and, to Zoros disapproval, also at all times required their attention, of course had announced that he loved the now hair, their other friend Usopp, a very scared, but loyal and smart guy, immediately remarked: “The teachers will never allow that Nami! You know how they are with bleached hair”. He proceeded to look around nervously, as if a teacher could walk in at any minute and declare that he personally was to be dispelled from school for being friends with Nami. The girl just shrugged her shoulders. “Sanji-kun has blond hair”, she said, pointing at him. While Sanji trailed off into a muttered “Nami-san is so right!”, Usopp just shook his head: “You know that this is his natural colour, and they tried to force him to colour it!”

“Well Zoro has his hair green”, Nami countered, now pointing at him. “Yes, but everyone is scared of him, Nami.” It was a troublesome conversation to follow and Zoro started spacing out. He unconsciously went with his hand through his hair. Nobody had bothered him about his green coloured hair for a while now. In fact, it had been over a year since the last teacher tried to get him to drop the green altogether. His skills in Kendo and his general demeanour had made him an enemy to few, but also someone that a lot of other students, and teachers, feared. They generally jumped out of his way when he passed by. Generally, he had been surprised that even anyone had decided to come up to him and even befriend him. But now he had a healthy group of 5 good friends. Well, 4 and the Loverboy, who Zoro couldn’t stand. Sanji had his qualities though, that even Zoro couldn’t deny. After school he learned in a restaurant downtown called the Baratie and generally his friends were allowed to a free meal. Girls, however, got multiple meals free, which Nami liked to abuse as much as she could. Growing up poor, she had always looked out for the money.

Before Christmas they had lost a dear friend of them to a school transfer. A girl that had briefly joined their group had changed schools. This change had already been in the works as she met them and she decided, even after meeting them, not to stay. This had thrown them all off and saddened, but they would never stop a friend from advancing. Especially Nami had mourned the loss of another girl in the group and surely coloured her hair in this vibrant colour to make up for it. Or so Zoro thought. Not that he could, in any way, make out the inner workings of women. Admittedly, he was just excited to be back at school with all of them. Over the winter he had only spent time training (and a little studying, but very little) and therefore had no time to meet them all. It was great to be back together, even if now a person was missing. “And it’s not like we never see her again,” he thought to himself.

And now, they had a new student in their class. Soon after they had all settled down and the bell rang, the homeroom teacher walked in with another girl. It was clear that she was transferring into this class specifically and Zoro assumed to know why. His eyes narrowed and he pressed his teeth together as he saw her. Robin Nico. This girl. This girl that had worked with that Crocodile bastard a few months back. He knew she only joined to make him and his friends uncomfortable. She bowed, greeted everybody and then took a seat at the very end of the room, right behind him. He glared at her. What was she thinking! Eyes followed her all the way and then, to his shock, he saw that Luffy waved at her slightly. That wasn’t a good sign.

First and second period passed uneventful. The teacher complained for half an hour about Nami’s new hair colour and as she passionately defended herself that her hair needed to be orange, since that was her favourite fruit and also her adopted mother, who was dead, had planted oranges in their garden was a part of her, plus, a adult such as the teacher should celebrate her individuality and not stop it, we aren’t in 1830 after all, so the teacher just gave up. Nami worked in a restaurant after school, she knew how to convince people of her point, if that meant selling badly done, lukewarm soup or just her new hair colour. Zoro couldn’t concentrate on the lesson. Now, he usually wasn’t concentrating on any lessons besides Kendo, but today he could concentrate even less than usual. He could hear the pen of the girl behind him move over the paper and couldn’t help his anger. Why did she come here? Why was she acting as if nothing had ever happened?

“I miss Vivi,” Nami sighed as the first break had finally arrived. They all pulled their tables together to chat a bit about their winter holidays and Luffy, who was always a goofball and never was not excited about anything, clapped at a story of Tony Chopper, the last person in their group, who had helped with a surgery during the holidays. The gruesome parts of it all were Luffy’s favourite, while Usopp held his fingers in his ears. Chopper, as they all called him, was their age, but with a way younger looking face. He was a sweet boy who supported the schools nurse and who they had come in contact with during a sudden illness Nami had had in the last year. In every free moment he was studying to become a doctor. Zoro grinded his teeth: “Imagine!”, he said it out loud on purpose, “how cool it would be if she’d still be here but sadly!” he paused and looked over his shoulder “she had to transfer because someone! Someone couldn’t stop bullying her at every step!” He saw that Robin looked up and for a short moment their eyes met. He quickly looked away. “Zoroooo,” said Luffy drawn out and pulled his ear, “Don’t be mean.” Luffy had a good heart and even bigger arms to welcome anyone in that was nice to him once. To him, there were no bad people in this world. To Zoro, everyone in the world was bad. Except, of course, his chosen few. And the cook, at least sometimes. “We all miss Vivi,” Chopper now said with a sad face, “but I’ve heard that she is very excited to start her elite school, so I’m happy for her.” When they met Vivi they weren’t aware that she had come from a rich family background and was on the way to be transferred to a private school for elites. She was only placed in their school to be away from an older collage person, who, with his gang, was always on her toes. Zoro had forgotten his name, they all just called him Crocodile. That shit reptile.

“Hmm,” Luffy let out a sound and looked over at Robin, who was deeply sunken into a book. “I wonder…”, he said more to himself than to everyone else. Zoro knew what would follow. Luffy and him had gone through many different phases since their first year together in this school and he could read his moods very well so far. And sure as well Luffy got up, walked over and put his hand on Robin’s table: “Come join us!” She looked up. There was a second of visible confusion, but then she smiled. “Monkey-kun, that’s very-“ “I’m just Luffy. Now come, I don’t like it when people are without friends.” She carefully closed her book at then she got up and sat next to them all. “I’m Robin”, she said. “I have seen most of you before, but I’m glad that I actually get to meet you.” Then she smiled and to Zoros dismay all of the others smiled back at her.

He surely wouldn’t trust this girl so easily.


	2. 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad there are people out there reading this, thank you :)

Monkey D. Luffy was a strange person to be friends with. He was a laughing, jumping, carefree gumball at times and then fiercely protective, strong minded and eager at others. While generally uninterested in anything that contained studying and learning life lessons, he, even though he was 17, still buried himself into stories of adventures, daydreams of far of places and it was clear that after graduation he would just go off into the world. You would assume that this aimless quality of his would lead him to be a weird person, which most of the school avoided, but this was far from reality. Luffy had a quality about him that made it easy for him to befriend people. Even guys that he had previously picked fights with either at some point changed their minds about him or they still thought about him. He was a memorable person. Now with so many people to choose from and that liked him, you could think that he would have been picky while selecting his core group of friends, but you would also be wrong about that. Luffy seemed to pick people at random and invite them to activities and still he had never failed to pick someone strong, loyal, dependent and funny.

Zoro had been Luffy’s first choice. They had just started high school a few months back when this slender, dark haired boy approached the way taller, muscular Kendo-fighter, who everyone in the school had avoided so far. Zoro had brought a reputation from his middle school in which he had been repeatedly involved in fights with other students. It didn’t bother him to be left alone. He had just returned from nationals where he failed spectacularly in a standoff with the current champion and decided to eat lunch by himself on the rooftop when Luffy, opened the door to the roof and stepped out. “I will eat lunch with you today”, he said and sat down. Zoro didn’t know what to say. He eyed the boy opposite to him and replied: “I don’t think I invited you.” To this, Luffy just shook his head. And to Zoros surprise it all seemed to make sense. They both just sat there eating and from this day on they ate together every single day. 

This is how it was with him; he would invite someone to hang out and then this person would become part of the group. Sure, sometimes a person would do activities with them and not join the core group, mostly Luffy’s brothers, but it wasn’t the norm. Luffy in this way collected a group of bruised, scared, left out and lonely people that together formed a strangely complete bundle of friends. And all of them stuck together. Only Vivi had left, but her transfer to another school had been clear before she joined them. And while she considered cancelling it and sticking around, she ultimately decided to go for it. Which was unfortunate, but understandable.

Now, Luffy extended his hand to this new girl, Robin. All of them knew that this was a big deal. He had already accepted her in and no amount of arguments would now convince him that he had made a mistake. Usually, of course, he didn’t make mistakes and so far he had only chosen friends exceptionally well, but not this time, at least this is what Zoro thought. He could see in the eyes of the others, that they enjoyed having Robin around. She asked Chopper all the right questions about medicine, knew enough about classes to help Usopp over his exam anxiety and for Sanji and Nami it as enough that she was a girl and nice to talk to. It was a weird to him how they had all forgotten the brawl they had had just a few months ago where Robin had stood with their opponents. Didn’t they understand that she meant bad news? 

“Roronoa-san.” Zoro was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts and frowned when he realised that it had been Robin addressing him. She had addressed him much more formally than anyone had done in years and so he hadn’t immediately realised that she was speaking to him. What was up with this person. “Hm,” he growled back. “I just wanted to point out that you are putting sharpie all over your face”, she smiled a shy smile. “Oh god Zoro, look at yourself you look so dumb”, Luffy laughed his known signature laugh and pointed at his friend. Zoro suddenly realised that he was holding two pens in his hand and one between his teeth. Unconsciously he must have been playing with them as he sometimes did, but unfortunately, he must have forgotten to put the lids back on the pencils. He put his hand on his cheek and could feel at least on wet line on it. He immediately jumped up and ran out, before Sanji could make on of his “look at the green broccoli guy” jokes that he hated so much.

“That’s what happens if you have broccoli for a brain”, Sanji said triumphant as they watched him walk out. Nami chuckled slightly which satisfied him greatly. Robin also smiled, but inside she felt uneasy. “I don’t think Roronoa-san likes me very much”, she said quietly to Nami, who just answered with a wave of her hand: “Don’t think to much about it, he is just generally very grumpy. He knows that you can’t be too bad, after all we know you supported Luffy when he beat up the reptile man, so you can’t be all bad.” To emphasise on this point, she smiled a warm and big smile at the other girl: “I’m glad you are here at least. It’s nice to have another girl around.” It felt nice to have Nami talk so warmly about her, especially since Robin was aware how close the girl had been with Vivi. It was, however, not correct that Robin had aided Luffy when they thought the crocodile, it was the complete opposite.

She moved her head around the table and thought of that time a few months ago when she was still attending a different school and working directly against the interests of all the people sitting with her at this table. She herself didn’t know exactly why she had chosen this specific school to transfer to, why she had really longed to see them all again. But even after doing it she had felt anxious about meeting them again. Robin couldn’t foresee the reaction they might be having to seeing her. So it wasn’t that she was sad about Zoros response to her presence, it was that she was surprised how well the others took her. Of course, she had heard how open hearted and welcoming Luffy was to everyone and yes, he had already helped her once before, but who would have thought that he’d be so inviting right on her first day. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy. If only Zoro wouldn’t grim at her every time their eyes crossed.

Zoro finally returned just shortly before their long break was over, still traces of sharpie in his face. His eyes immediately went over to Sanji as if to tell him to dare him to make a joke about it, but Sanji was busy talking to another girl in their class and didn’t take notice. After he said down, Robin decided to try to engage with him another time. “It’s barely visible”, she lied and tried to smile as warmly as she could. Under the table she put your hands together into a fist to keep them from shaking. She couldn’t make out why it seemed so important to her that this last one accepted her too. The boy turned around and stared at her. “Ah, I’ve heard that people are generally scared of him”, she thought when she met his glare with an even brighter smile. “Just saying,” she added and noticed with disappointment that her voice was slightly shaking. “Huh?”, he replied as if he had just realised that she was also in his presence, “That’s good. Thanks.” He turned back. He had said thank you! It was the little wins that needed to be celebrated with this one, Robin decided.

“Are working for that reptile guy still?”, he asked without turning his head to her. She heard the question anyway and her heart grew uneasy again. Small victory immediately followed by crushing defeat. “No,” she said, but looked at her opened notes in front of her. Zoro said nothing for a few minutes and then he asked her what had been on his mind from the first time when he saw her: “Why did you come here in the first place?” Robin knew that she had a reputation of changing schools quicker than underwear. It was something that was said about her wherever she went. Look, that is the girl that comes into a new school, takes over a leading task and then runs it into the ground. She never takes responsibility; she just runs to the next school. It was her burden to carry around. It made it hard for her to find good friends anywhere. “I just,” she said, trying to find the right words to describe how she felt, “thought that after meeting Luffy a few months back that I… would like to know all of you.” It was the truth, sort off. It was as close to the truth as it could be. Zoro shrugged and looked over the shoulder to her again. “If you hurt any of them again, I’m going to take care of you personally”, he said and Robin didn’t doubt for a second that he meant it. She forced herself to a big smile again: “That won’t happen, Roronoa-san, don’t worry. My hurting days have ended.” It was a joke, but he did not laugh. “I will get this guy to like me with aggressive kindness”, she thought to herself and clutched her fingernails into her fist so tightly that it hurt.


	3. 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long I really wanted to tell the backstory in this chapter and didn't know how.  
> There will be more pairing stuff afterwards I promise. :c I'm sorry for this mess

After school Robin decided to walk back home with Nami, who, it turned out, lived nearby. Nami seemed thoroughly relieved to be in the company of another girl again even though she also couldn’t hide the sadness in her voice, whenever Vivi was mentioned. “I wrote her a text message today”, she said, smiling to herself, “to tell her that you are in our school now.” There it was again, this uneasiness that plagued Robin ever since he had met them all way back. It was not something you could easily forgive and forget. They had accepted her on Luffy’s guidance, not more. The other girl must have noticed the look on Robins face and punched her slightly into the arm: “Don’t worry. Vivi is very approving.”

It was nice that the girls were sticking up for her, even when they didn’t know her at all, Robin thought. “I wonder, though”, Nami now said, staring on her background picture on her phone, “what really happened.” She didn’t sound suspicious, just curious and Robin had been aware that at some point she would be asked about it all. After all, to be fully accepted into the group she had to be open with them and while maybe others weren’t so interested in knowing what happened, Nami’s affections to her former friend made it especially interested. “I have no problem with telling you”, she said smiling her content smile, “if you really want to know.”

“Yes, we would love to hear it”, a darker, colder voice behind them said. Out of an alleyway came Zoro, who Kendo-stick on his hips, held his school bag over his shoulder. He looked down at the two girls with raised eyebrows and Robin could feel shiver going down her spine when his gaze met hers. Before Robin could adequately greet him Nami had already jumped forward and pulled on his ear: “You idiot! You scared me to death! Why are you even here?!”

He wiggled himself out of her grab: “I am on my way home, obviously.” Oh, Robin thought, he also lives around here. “That’s bullshit”, Nami waved his answer away with her hand, “you don’t even live anywhere close here.” Then, as if she realised something, she said: “Oh god, you got lost, didn’t you?” Slightly turning red by embarrassment, he looked away. It was great for Robin to see him flustered again. His general stoic demeaner and obvious dislike of her filled her with constant discomfort. She had seen him around with other people, smiling, joking, fake fighting and she felt how much she wanted him to do this with her. This is, she thought, only because he is part of that group. That is why I want him to like me.

“So?”, he growled still looking away from the girls. “It doesn’t matter, I’m here now.” He then turned his face back to Robin: “And I would really like the excuse of this one.” The “you cant say that, Zoro” and “treat her like a human you asshole” complaints from Nami rained down almost immediately, but Robin did not feel insulted. She had already decided to win him over by being as kind as she humanly could and for that, she would have to start with the truth. She put a hand softly on Nami’s arm: “It’s okey, I will tell both of you.” They walked on as Robin took a deep breath trying to remember when it all started.

Her life until her 14th year had been marked by constant moving and changing schools. This was caused due to her state as an orphan and changing host families. When she was in middle school, she finally changed to a school in this city and quickly build a reputation of being a quick and intelligent researcher. She was reading constantly, no matter if that was books, newspapers or magazines. At some point she pierced together that some shady underground organisations must be working hand in hand with the city’s council and on her way to prove exactly this she was one day approached by the man everybody called “Sir Crocodile”, an alias he had chosen himself. One day, he and his henchmen waited in front of her school in a car to take her away. Crocodile wanted her to work under him as a researcher to dig up dirt on the Nefertari family, a rich business family at the head of the Alabasta cooperation. Crocodile aimed to take over that cooperation and lead it, as he was already in the inner circle around the boss. Robin agreed to help, in hopes to get closer to the inner circles of the city council.

While Robin was digging around documents about the Alabasta cooperation and especially its head, Cobra, Crocodile and his underlings instead harassed his daughter Vivi, who had been going to school with Nami and the others and through her hardship befriended them. Crocodile of course never openly went after Vivi, as his cover was too important to him. The aim was to force her to go away, so that the takeover could work without the potential next head of the company around. They finally got their way when she decided to transfer to another school farther away. But by then she was already part of Luffy’s group and that spelled problems for Crocodiles plans.

Robin meanwhile worked on fabricating bad news about Cobra and how he was leading the company. It was a simple task since nobody honestly believes their own boss. At the same time, she secretly worked towards her goal. The heated head to head started the past summer on a festival day. Out with her friends Vivi met Crocodile and others there accidentally and he, feeling as the superior person taunted and laughed at her. This angered Luffy obviously, who then started a fight with, what he called, “the reptile” and after a knock on the head passed out. This was the time he had previously talked about Robin saving him. After Sir Crocodile had walked away triumphant, she helped the boy to a hospital. She left before his treatment was done.

Now, with Vivi knowing Crocodiles real identity it was clear that his plans had been crossed and that, even though Robin had planted seeds of anger in the minds of the workers, it was all too easy for Alabasta to proof that none of the stories had been true. A final showdown between Luffy, his friends and crocodile plus his underlings was taking place in a big brawl of wooden sticks, fists and kicks. Trying to stay out of it Robin scrambled to get all the information together for her private goals, but had to realise that there was nothing of substance there. While heading out of headquarters she passed Crocodile and Luffy throwing punches and in the general trouble of everything happening around her, forgot to hide where she had been. Crocodile figured out what she had done in a second and with a swift movement of his arm hit her head with a stone he had plugged from the street. Robin almost instantly passed out. This is after all what you get when you try to get involved in underground dealings.

Luffy then returned the favour and called an ambulance to make sure she was taking care off. At least that is what the emergencies services told her he had done. Since she had broken with Crocodile and her goals had been made known she could no longer stay in the district she lived in without the fear of repercussions, so she had decided to change schools. And yes, she had chosen their school specifically, since she had admired them so much throughout this whole affair.

After Robin had ended the three of them walked on in silence until they reached Nami’s house. “So,” she said, as if to sum up all her thoughts, “you tried to use him for your own cause as he tried to use you?” Robin shrug her shoulders, but nodded lightly. “I see…” then “Man, I can’t believe the underground mobs are working with the city council. You really have to find out what this is about.”

“I will, don’t worry, I just need more time and…. Support”, Robin replied, smiling again. “Yes, don’t worry! We will support you now.” Nami grinned and then quickly hugged Robin goodbye. “I’m glad you are here now.” She then turned to go into the house.

Robin now realised she was alone with Zoro and her smile faded. She wondered if he had been convinced by what she had told him and if he would accept her presence in their class now. Most of all though, she longed to break this awkward silence of both of them just standing and not talking. “Well,” she began, quietly but without shaking, “ Roronoa-san, you live around here too?”

“No”, he said and without looking at her another time he walked off. “See you tomorrow.”


	4. 4.

4.

A week had passed since Robin had joined their little group. Snow was still laying all over the campus of their school and still every morning one or two students were late citing traffic problems. This was Zoros favourite time of year, not only because he liked the calm the snow brought, but also because he always had an excuse ready in case he arrived late – which happened a lot. His biggest weakness was finding directions. It was unusually hard for him to tell in which way he was going, which was partly to a bad orientation and partly to due to the fact that he was constantly with his head somewhere else. Once on the way to school he found an especially well-formed branch, that he swung around in his hand like a sword. But to get this branch he had to climb into the little river that went through their town and because of this he had gotten wet, so he went to the gym to change clothes before going to school. He was an hour late. Teachers still feared him, and he did turn up eventually, so nobody said much. For Kendo though, his teacher was not so forgiving.

“What are you thinking of, Zoro-kun?”, he yelled from the other side of the training grounds to him. Koushirou was a kind but strict man. He had trained Zoro from a very young age and prepared him for any and all of his tournaments. For Zoro, who had grown up with both his parents mostly absent, Koushirou was the closest thing to a father. And so, like a father, Koushirou liked to scold him, praise him, build him up and bring him back down if necessary. He was also surprisingly good at guessing Zoros thoughts and sensing when the young fighter was drifting off, away from concentration.

“Nothing in particular”, Zoro lied, turning the Kendostick in his hands and resuming the stance he had been practicing. “And nothing is a person?”, his teacher persisted. Of course Koushirou had seen immediately through his lie. Zoro drew back his arms and hit the little test dummy in front of him with as much precision as he could muster: “Possibly.”

Koushirou sighed: “I told you, Zoro-kun, you shouldn’t think of the fight again. You will get it next time.” Ah yes, his teacher thought Zoro was trailing of to think about _that_ fight again. That time in finals when he lost against utterly and embarrassingly. Of course, yes, Zoro thought about this a lot. His training had doubled since that time and the only goal in his mind was the fulfilment of that goal. He wanted to become the best. He wanted to win against that hawk.

But no, today he wasn’t thinking about the loss. His thoughts had been revolving about Robin once more. He had found that in the last couple of days she had always been on his mind. He told himself that it was to keep her in check. Because he didn’t believe her as easily as others did. But deep down he knew that he had believed her story from the first time she told it. Nobody could make up such a story. It all had to be true. No, no, it was not right. Trusting her was not right. He had to be more careful. This is why, surely this is why, he was watching her constantly too. To make sure. Someone had to keep a cool head.

“You miss all the important spots. You are not even really focusing your eyes.” His teacher shook his head and stepped up to pull the dummy away. “Maybe we have overdone it for today, Zoro-kun. Better take a break now.” There was no use protesting. If Koushirou had decided that the training was ending early, then the training was ending early. All Zoro could do was accept it, go change and try to make his way home before it was too late to be out. He never quite knew what distracted him on his way home.

The boy went to the dressing room and changed back into his school uniform. He never brought anything else other than gym clothes and school clothes and barely owned clothes of his own. It was expensive to buy fashion items and he didn’t particularly enjoy buying them. Sometimes Nami dragged all of them when they met downtown. She had talked him into buying a shirt or two, but had not formed a love for shopping in him. School clothes were more than enough.

It was heavily pouring down. Half snow, half rain, the worst sort of rain there was. Zoro never took an umbrella anywhere and knew he would be soaking and freezing before he would make it home if he walked as usual. The hood on his jacket might keep his green hair dry, but nothing else besides that. He packed his bag under his jacket to keep it dry and then set out from the training centre. His kendo stick, as always, packed and hung on his hips. It was positively awful and cold outside. The snow he liked so much turned into misery quickly if rain came into the mix. Suddenly all was mud and water. Wet clothes, wet hair, wet shoes. Those times Zoro started missing summer. It was no good. He had no choice but to take the subway home. He rarely did so, because getting lost on streets was one thing, but completely riding in the wrong direction in a train was another. Who knows where he’d end up?

It took him a bit to find the right subway station. This was not, as he told himself, due to getting lost, but due to him never taking the subway. He took 15 mins to study the map of the city on the wall and determined which train to take and then he got onto Line 4, which he was positive was the line he had been on the last time. He wasn’t entirely sure about it, but mostly sure was sure enough. A fighter like him had to listen to his instincts and so he did.

As soon as he had entered the train, he saw her. She was sitting on one of the nearly empty benches, sunken deep into a book. Zoro noticed that she had put her hair into a lose knot on the back to shield it from the rain. Her jacket was dripping and next to her was a small umbrella. She didn’t notice him at first. Way too interested in whatever that book is about, he thought. He considered just sitting right next to the entrance and in this way avoiding a, what would probably be, awkward conversation with her, but for whatever reason he found himself walking towards her.

“Robin”, he said. A statement, as if he was right then and there naming her. There was no question or hello in it, just him mentally pointing at her and saying her name. Robin took a bit to let go of the book and then she looked up at him. He could quickly see a certain flush go over her cheeks, but it disappeared immediately and she smiled her usual wide smile: “Roronoa-san. Good evening.”

Hesitant for a second, he then decided to sit down next to her. They had never been this close before. It made him feel uneasy. Its just because I don’t trust her yet, he thought. “Are you coming from training?”, she asked, putting the book back into her bag. “Eh, yes, how did you know?”.

“Your hair is messy from, you know, sweating and your face is redder than I have ever seen it, which is also due to exercise I assume”, she deducted. “Plus your eyes..”, she began, but then immediately cut herself off. “Plus the smell you mean”, Zoro said, crossing his arms. “Oh no,” she put her hands up in a defensive motion, “no it’s all fine. I don’t smell anything.”

“Don’t worry about telling me the truth about it I know I’m like a gorilla at the moment”, he joked and for the first time since meeting her, he actually smiled too. Robin noted that down as a win for her, but also kept the mental image for selfish reasons. “Why are you here, Robin?” Zoro continued, now no longer smiling. He had thought to himself that he should not show kindness to her, otherwise she would think he liked her and that, now that was not possible.

“I studied late. I have to catch up with your material still. I’m on my way home now.” Robin put her hands together in her lap. Then suddenly she looked at him: “Roronoa-san! Didn’t you say the other day that you don’t live around Nami or me? Why are you in this train?” For a good minute they just stared at each other. The wheels in Zoros head were turning. First, to the conversation they had had last week in front of Namis house. Then, to the train number he had taken and if he was in the wrong way and then lastly to Robins face, so light up with worry for him. What a weird girl this was.

Zoro scratched himself behind his ear: “Possibly…”

“Well where did you want to go?”, she replied, clearly stress in her voice.

“Uhm, north-west, I think.”

“You are going south!” It was clear that she was new in their group. Nami would have simply rolled her eyes and moved on. Sanji and Luffy would have laughed at him. But she felt worry. She didn’t know yet that he was a person which no orientation skill. Zoro looked around himself to see a line overview to understand what went wrong, but before he could find anything the train came to another hold and Robin abruptly stood up next to him. “We should get out here, we can still take a train in the other direction!”

She pulled him by the wrist out of the cart and across the station to the line 4 into the other direction. They had to hurry to get the next incoming subway and Zoro, who had been surprised by everything just let her lead her there. Both out of breath they sat down in the other train. Robin was still holding his arm for a minute or two until she suddenly dropped it as if it had been a hot pan she didn’t want to touch. She was such a strange person, he thought.

“I’ll bring you home”, she said.

“No”, he answered. “I’m not five, I can find my way.” What a weird thing to offer him. A man was supposed to bring the woman home, not the other way around.

“You have no umbrella”, she argued, “you would get wet.” Zoro noticed that she was staring at her feet. Her cheeks were slightly red now. No doubt because of the running.

He sighed. Just like with his teacher earlier he could sense that discussing here would lead nowhere. “Fine”, he said. “But I’m carrying the umbrella. I’m taller.” She moved on her seat beside him, but he did not look at her. She did not look at him either. He could hear her talk to her feet again: “Fine by me.”

Her voice was slightly shaking as if she was excited. What a weird, strange and interesting girl. No, of course not interesting, he thought. Just weird. She was the oddest person he had ever come across and her being puzzled him greatly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strange how I have been writing for years. Fanfiction since I am 13 (now im 27). But writing and posting this always gives me major anxiety. Not because I don't have an idea what to do here, but because I think its never good enough. Isn't that weird? I have this insane respect for Ao3 as if it was this elite site of fanfic writers and not just fans like me....Makes no sense  
> Thank you so much in that regard for leaving kudos here. I'm glad some of you enjoy what I "put to paper." Hope you all are healthy in this weird times.


	5. 5.

“This way.” Robin pointed to the left of the station and then walked out into the rainy evening. During the subway ride she had convinced Zoro to give her his address, so she could use her phone to navigate them to his home. It was something he had also used before, he had told her, but kept forgetting about. Robin wondered if he just enjoyed walking the empty streets at night and therefore didn’t even want to find his way. Maybe the quiet was a part of his daily process. It would fit him in a way.

Still, she had decided to bring him home this time. She tried telling herself, that it was an act of kindness, a gift to a new friend, but she knew that she also had a curiosity for the place he lived, plus, she strangely enjoyed being alone with him. At least he talked to her this way. In school he had refrained from making new comments about her past after he had heard her story, but he had barely spoken to her anyway. She mainly hung out with Nami and Chopper, he mainly hung out with Luffy and Sanji, with whom he would always argue about something. Robin had enjoyed watching him in these situations. His reputation of an emotionless, stone-faced fighter was somewhat of a wrong one. He laughed a lot, got angry, got compassionate and cared for his friends. He was just a normal boy in his age.

In one large step Zoro closed the distance between him and Robin. He had briefly stayed behind and struggled to open Robin’s umbrella. It was exactly as small as you’d expect of a handy umbrella which was meant to be carried in your schoolbag, so it could not comfortably fit both of them. Robin had known this and was partly worried that he would back out of walking with her after seeing the limited space. But instead he just lifted the umbrella over his head and stepped next to her close enough to cover her too.

For a while they just walked silently with their footsteps on the wet ground and the rain the only thing breaking the silence. Robin felt the unfamiliar anxiety again, especially now that she was working so close to Zoro. He put his left arm slightly behind her right shoulder to make and in this way making sure she wouldn’t get wet. His bag, flung over his right shoulder, however, was dripping wet by now. Why wasn’t he taking care of that, she wondered. He could easily take his bag into the middle. But instead he walked with her shoulder touching shoulder, which made produced this growing uneasy feeling in Robin.

Periodically she checked her phone to see if they were heading in the right direction. To pack it in and out of her bag she had to slightly touch Zoros hand. Accidentally of course. The feeling lingered on her skin. To her surprising delight Zoro never placed his hand in a different way, nor did he comment. He most likely doesn’t even notice, she concluded and noticed that she was disappointed about that. Sure yes, she had decided to win him over as a friend, but clearly, he was now talking to her, so she should be satisfied? What more could she ever want of him?

Desperate to break the silence, she said: “Don’t your parents worry if you come home late a lot? I mean, won’t they worry if you get lost, Roronoa-san?” She didn’t look up to him and instead focused on the traffic lights ahead. It had become terribly cold and her feet were soaking wet now. She would have cursed any other evening like this, but now despite the cold she was happy where she was.

“Parents?”, he asked and she could feel his shoulders shrug. “No, no I live on my own.” He too, was living on his own! Robin thought surprised. To her, she was the only child that had to go from foster home to foster home and never settled until deciding to just live by herself. It was strange to find another person in their age with the same fate. “I’m provided for by a distant relative I suppose”, he said, scratching his green coloured head.

“You don’t know them?”, she asked, careful not to overstep a boundary of his.

He thought for a second: “There might have been a time when I wondered who it might be, but I’m past that. Have Kendo tournaments to worry about.” He grinned down to her and she could immediately feel her cheeks warming up. This was ridiculous. I’m getting sick because of the cold, she concluded.

Part of her wanted to tell him that she was in a similar position, but opening up about such a personal thing in her past had never been easy to her. She usually never talked about her mother around her school companions, but somehow this felt different. Even though she had only been around them for a week or so, Robin felt like she belonged to Luffy’s group. It was as if they had always been waiting for her. And, although he had been sceptical of her, Robin also had that feeling of closeness with Zoro. More than that even, she really wanted to share her thoughts with him in particular. She didn’t know why.

Back into silence they fell. Robin didn’t really have topics to talk about. She could ask him about Kendo? She could ask him how meet the others and why he didn’t like Sanji? But she didn’t want to feel like she was interrogating him and small-talk not always came easy to her. Deep in thoughts she stepped of the walkway and onto the streets, to avoid an especially nasty puddle, even if that meant moving further away from under the umbrella.

Several things happened at once. Robin slipped on a thin ice layer that had built up on the side of the road. Her bag slid from her shoulder and crashed onto the ground. Zoro, who had immediately noticed her fall, dropped the umbrella and his bag in a lightning speed decision that could have stunned onlookers and leapt forward to catch her before she could even come close the ground. All of that happened in a matter of seconds.

Oh god, Robin thought. Oh god, I embarrassed myself. She looked up at him and realised that he was also looking at her. His cheeks were flushed from the cold. She had never seen his eyes so close and she had never seen them so worried. She needed a bit to recover hear breath from the shock of it all. He had come to catch her. He was still holding her! Her heart was beating hard against her chest. Why does that make me excited, she thought. Why does that make me so weirdly relaxed? Everything about this boy was strange to her.

“Roronoa-san”, she gasped between heavy breaths. “I’m so sorry, I must be clumsy.” For a small second they still looked at each other, but then Zoro pulled her back onto her own feet. “It’s slippery here”, he said, picking up the umbrella and his own flag from the ground. Robin did the same with her own schoolbag. Carefully she stepped back onto the walkway and under the umbrella. She could still feel his arms catching her. Like the feeling of her hand slightly brushing up against his, the feeling of her being held lingered on.

Sternly moving forward, now apparently very sure of his way home, Zoro said: “You didn’t get hurt did you?” It made her strangely happy to hear him concerned for her health. Girl, she thought to herself, you have to put yourself together, he is just being polite.

“No, thanks to you”, she smiled.

“Don’t think too highly of me for this”, he grumbled, “I just don’t like to see people trip. I’d rescue anyone.” These words stung Robin a little, even though she had already suspected as much. Why ever would he want to especially take care of her. He didn’t even like her much. Acceptance? Yes. Like? No.

She just made a sound to affirm to him that she was agreeing to what he had said. She wasn’t going to let him know how disappointed she felt deep inside.

“My best friend,” Zoro said finally, after a few minutes of awkward silence and walking, “died because she tripped and fell down the stairs.”

“Oh”, was she could say in response to that.

“She tripped and got injured and then died in the hospital the same day.”

“Roronoa-san, I’m so so-“

He cut her off immediately: “It’s not your fault. Anyway, it was long ago. I just don’t like seeing people falling. It triggers my fight reflex.” He grinned at her again. Robin forced herself to smile her usual smile back at him. She couldn’t bear the thought of how sad he must have been in the past. No parents and then suddenly your best friend dies. I’d be there for him, she thought. If only I had known him earlier.

They took a corner and Robins phone started vibrating. “I guess that means we arrived”, Zoro said, watching her pick the phone out of her pocket and, once again, slightly touching his hand holding the umbrella. “Are we?”, she asked. She couldn’t see much in the dark, but the streetlights shone on a 10-store building full of small apartments without a balcony. It looked like a student dorm. This is where he lives, she wondered and moved her eyes up and down the building. Zoro could read her puzzling look: “It’s not like a pupil like me could afford something bigger. My benefactor is just paying for the necessities.”

“Yes, that makes sense”, she replied, embarrassed by how obviously surprised she had looked. He must think I’m a snob, she thought. Taking a long, deep breath he said: “So, thank you for taking me home, I guess?”

“There is no need to thank me for that, I pushed myself onto you.” She looked at her feet again.

Zoro scratched his head again. He seemed to be searching for a way to end this awkward evening between them. “Next time, I will walk you home”, he said finally.

Robin looked up and into his dark eyes again: “I promise.” And in her mind she added: I’m looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo, I drunk a bit today so this is a mess thank you for sticking around. It really makes me happy.  
> if you want to have one piece spam on tumblr i made a sideblog a while back , click here: https://sanji-stan-tmblr.tumblr.com/


	6. 6.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been so long! I really try to write each week, but I seem to me failing.  
> I also realised that the Hungry Days Bump of Chicken music video was deleted (or priveted) from youtube and I'm very sad.

Several weeks had past and while the wind and the air were still very cold, the days started to get longer, the snow melted and the sun already brought about the first feelings of spring. Well, slight feelings. February wasn’t spring, but clearly it warmed up. On one of these sunny afternoons the boys had decided to go visit Sanji at his work in the restaurant, which was in no way related to the fact that they’d often get food for free there and Luffy’s constant state of being hungry. No matter how much Zoro liked to make fun of him, he had to admit that Sanji and his mentors were really good cooks. Sanji had put himself in charge of preparing school lunches for everyone. Of course, the girls had bigger lunches.

“Did you even put ANY meat in this?”, Luffy whined to Sanji, who had once again abandoned his work to sit with the others and chat. If there was no women in the restaurant and no interesting food was being prepared, Sanji could be as lazy as any of them. Plus, after preparing their work, he clearly felt that he was ok to take a little break. Usually the owner, Zeff, came by after a while and dragged him off by his ear. “Yes, of course I did. Don’t you dare question me!”. Sanji rolled his eyes. Luffy was never satisfied with the amount of meat he was getting. Truly, nothing was stranger to him then people who deliberately weren’t eating meat. The little squabble between them went on and Zoro stopped listening. For a while he watched Chopper and Usopp play a game on their phones against each other. He noticed how he was spacing out.

“I didn’t notice until now,” he said suddenly, cutting off everyones conversations immediately, “that the girls aren’t here.”

“What?” Luffy said, moving his head to the side in disbelief: “Are you an idiot?”

“There were here before”, Zoro defended himself. And with “before” he meant hours ago and “here” was at school. He couldn’t remember when they went away. His head had been full of new training strategies he had put together. A tournament was coming up and every waking hour of his was spent on figuring out how to succeed. There was no option for error this time. Lately, he has found himself wandering with his thoughts, which constantly interrupted his concentration.

Chopper, who was always kind enough not to make too much fun of anyone, slightly patted Zoros arm and explained: “Nami is working and Robin is picking her up.” Ah. “I see”, Zoro said. Nami also worked in a restaurant and she had a worse loss than Sanji. Since losing her adoptive mother it was Namis responsibility to look after the income of the house. When she was younger the only employer that would go against labour laws and employ a child, was the owner of a sketchy fish restaurant at the harbour. None of their group liked going there. All the owner and the other workers did all day was scream and order Nami around. Sanji had pleaded with Zeff to employ her in his restaurant, but Zeff insisted they had no income to support another person. Nami, however, was strong and resilient and she was determined to stay until graduation. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of quitting.

Usopp giggled from the opposite part of the table: “Zoro wants to know where Robin is.” Zoro felt his cheeks flush slightly. “Since their rainy-day date the other day he looks at her constantly.” Only Sanji didn’t laugh at that. Again, Zoro thought, when will they let that go. He, of course, had not told the others of the time a few weeks ago when Robin had brought him home. However, she didn’t seem to embarrassed about it and she shared the incident with Nami literally the next day. The whole group had a good laugh at his expense. Zoro who got lost even on his own way home. Zoro who needed to be brought home by a _girl_. And as it is in any teenager’s nature, the other boys now teased him about it relentlessly. While he was annoyed, he was also aware, that he would be the same if it were anybody else. Hell, he made fun of Sanji for accompanying girls home all the time.

Pressing his teeth together Zoro said: “I do not. I just wondered where they are. They are here constantly with us otherwise.” He tapped his finger on the table. Out of the corner of his eye he could feel Sanji staring at him. His eyes went over Zoros face for a second. “What are you looking at, eyebrow?!”, Zoro snapped at him.

“I”, Sanji said, pausing after the first word to think for a second, “I actually think Usopp is right.”

“What do you mean?”

Sanji shrugged his shoulders: “You do stare at her a lot.” A triumphant sound came out of Usopps mouth and he put his fist into the air: “Ha! I knew it.” Now Zoro could clearly feel his face go red. Embarrassment and anger slowly warmed up his blood. “Bullshit! I just don’t trust her at all.”

“Maybe”, Sanji now intercepted, “the green haired weirdo _actually_ has a crush. Certainly looks like that to _me._ ” It was his calm, condescending voice that pissed Zoro of so much, that he would have loved to punch the other boy in the face.

“Oh so _you_ think you know that kind of stuff, huh?”, Zoro grumbled at him.

“Well, I for sure know more about crushes than you do”, Sanji threw back.

“I see, I see”, Zoro now said, putting his hands up sarcastically. “That’s true, yes. There is _no way_ I would know things better than Sanji. After all, Sanji is a prince and he knows _everything.”_

Sanjis eyes blinked with anger: “Shut up.”

Zoro knew he was crossing a line, but he was already running too fast at this point. He raised his eyebrows: “You think you can just make me shut up by telling me, prince? Is that what they teach you damn Vinsmokes when you are young?”

There were a few seconds of silence that felt like a small eternity, but then Sanji, without giving Zoro an additional look, got up and left the table. “Zoro!”, Luffy jumped up and blinked angrily at him, “that was not necessary.” Zoro could feel the heat leave his head as quickly as it had come. He immediately regretted crossing the line. But it’s not like I didn’t know, that I was crossing it, he thought.

Before he could say anything in his defence, Nami stepped to the table and immediately slapped her flat hand on it. “So,” she said, and her voice was accusatory, “what happened with Sanji, huh?!” All of the boys at the table immediately looked to Zoro. Those rats. “We just met him”, she said forcefully, “and he didn’t even say hello to us, so something must be wrong!” Having Nami as an ally was always to their advantage. She was headstrong, outspoken and also had the unique ability to make everyone around her scared for their life. Zoro might be feared for the reputation he had acquired himself in middle-school, but Nami was an entirely different scary character. None of them dared to speak out against her and it was no use to lie to her since she’d found out anyway. “What did you do, Zoro?!”, she said, now intensely staring at him.

He wanted to say “Nothing”, but the ever so kind Chopper answered before he could: “Zoro called Sanji the V-word.” Zoro had just a second to see the puzzled face Robin was making. She seemed to have followed Nami into the restaurant. Then Nami jumped onto him like a wild cat and pulled heavily on his ear: “You go apologize right now!”

“No!” Wretched woman, he thought and tried to get her hand from his head: “He should get over it instead.” But Nami was relentless as always: “Go right now and look for him, I want fucking say it twice.” She finally let go of him. “What _“awful”_ did he say to you to warrant such a response?”, she asked, still trying to kill him with her looks.

This time Zoro had time to reply: “Nothing bad, he is overreacting as always.”

“Guys, what did he say?”, she now asked with a sinister voice to the other boys. Usopp shrugged his shoulders: “He insisted that Zoro had a crush on – “

“Ok, I’ll go apologize.” Zoro abruptly got up and effectively cut Usopp off. He didn’t feel like bringing Robin down with all of that dumb speculation on Sanjis side. No, he should not have called him a Vinsmoke, but Sanji shouldn’t have implied that Zoro was having a crush on _anyone._ That was not something that Zoro was capable off. His heart, so he steadfast thought, belonged to Kendo. It took him only a few minutes to figure out that Sanji had told the other cooks not to let anyone into the kitchen. I get it, he thought, I really did go to far there.

When Zoro returned to the table he just overheard Robin ask the others: “Whats the V-word?” He put his hands into the air defensively and explained to Nami that there was no way for him to apologize at the moment. Not that she would jump him again. Nami threw him one more angry look and then answered Robins question with such a whisper, that you could believe it was some secret information: “You know, Sanji grew up in a formally royal family in the capital. He is a bit of an aristocrat actually. His last name is, well,” she paused for a second to check if Sanji was around, “Vinsmoke.”

“Vinsmoke?” Robins eyes lit up and Zoro understood immediately that she knew the family. It didn’t surprise him. That woman was informed about everything. “I didn’t know the Vinsmokes had a 4th son”, she said.

Nami sighed: “It’s not something his family or he are proud of. They were very dismissive of him when he was a child. There was a lot of abuse. He ran away when he was 8. Once he almost starved while he was living on the street so Zeff here adopted and raised him. He kept the name for legal reasons and all, but he really does not identify as a part of the family.” She looked around the restaurant for a second. “We don’t speak of it out of respect for him. Sometimes guys in suits show up around the school or this place, so we at least know that his family is keeping tabs on him. Sanji just closes his eyes to that. He does not plan on ever going back to see them.”

“Which is why”, she banged her flat hand on the table again, “Zoro is an asshole for mentioning it.” Zoro was glad that he now sat at the other end of the table, otherwise Nami would have reached out to pull his ear again and it was still hurting from earlier. “Also, for something as dumb as implying Zoro having a crush on someone. We all know that Zoro feel such things.” Part of him wanted to protest, even though he had had the same thought just a while before.

They waited another half an hour, but Sanji didn’t leave the kitchen. They cleared the table and Nami forced Zoro to write a little note that they left behind. Zoro insisting that he would apologize the next day fell on deaf ears. Outside they said their goodbye’s and, before she left with Nami, Robin said in her usual, quiet voice: “Roronoa-san.” He turned his head. He could clearly see anger in her eyes. “What you did to Sanji-san today was truly awful. There is trauma involved here. You should really know better than to put a friend through that. I did not expect this of you,” she said and then immediately turned to leave. Zoro stood there watching her back and felt worse than if someone would have punched and broke his nose. This feeling was deeper and hurt differently.

Damn girl, he thought to himself. As if she knows me. Whatever could she be disappointed in. But then he took out his phone anyway and, while making his own way home (without checking the direction, as always), he did something he rarely did: he wrote Sanji a text message. While he and Sanji had completely different personalities that constantly were at odds with each other, it was not Zoros intention to hurt him. They were friends after all and Zoro saw the value in Sanji as a friend.

Me:

Sorry.

The answer arrived immediately.

Eyebrows:

All good. See you tomorrow.


End file.
